MAKE-A-TEE’S

While walking through the Tacoma Mall for the first time in a few years, I happened upon this shop that boasted home made T Shirts. Make-​A-​Tee seemed to be a little hole in the wall non franchised small business and I was going to give them a try
Pro’s
They let you have access to a computer to look for logos and photos you may want to have transferred on a t-​shirt that will last a lifetime.
I worked with two employees a girl, Lanie and a guy and boy did they know their stuff.
Lanie was able to find fonts that weren’t already on her computer and navigated through sites like they were nothing.
Lanie was extremely knowledgeable about pricing, technology regarding transferring my image into photo software and transferring it to the machine to be screen printed.
Nothing I wanted done was too big or too small and both employees were extremely patient with me. (I tend to be very tedious and persnickety when it comes to things like this)
You can bring in your own shirts, hoodies, etc and have them printed for a lot less than if you buy the shirt there
Most items could be completed within 5 minutes, more tedious items, Lanie would take home and work on and have them the following day for me.
Con’s
Very expensive. It seemed like anything you added was $ 5 to $ 10.00 more and if you put it on the sleeve it was $ 5.00 and if you wanted something on the back it was $ 10.00 and the shirts were $ 24.99 when I went in and $ 29.99 before I left. They also had hoodies that were almost $ 50.00 plain.
There was a certain lack of professionalism in the way the employees dressed and reacted to other clients (Ie, failing to greet other people that might be waiting to ask questions etc). We saw two gentlemen stand in the opening of the store for almost 15 minutes while working with Lanie and not once did she say, «Hello» or «I’ll be right with you».
Summary–
I am very interested in computer graphics and consider myself somewhat advanced in what I know about the trade. I also have a family member that works as a graphic Tee stylist for a well known fashion designer and he states that he uses the same technology for his employer.
I could see myself doing this same line of work, hopefully for a bigger company, but as young as Lanie and her co worker were, this seemed like the best type of job to have while you are taking classes for this type of work or honing your skills in the graphics field, no matter how you plan to apply your skills.
I was mesmerized by how far technology has come just in the last few years. I was thankful to both Lanie and her co worker for allowing me to watch the process from beginning to end.
Since I have been visiting Best Buy’s, Apple Stores and Microsoft Stores in the last few weeks I have a better idea of just what I need and want after talking with Lanie for an amount of time while she assisted me in designing my shirt.
The finished product was amazing and I have worn it proudly since acquiring it and will definitely be back for more shirts, however, next time I will bring in my own shirt.
I would definitely recommend giving this business a try.